Buckle



1964 T. A. MATTHEWS ETAL 3, 1,272

BUCKLE Filed Sept. 12, 1962 & J/osesA.Hieks BY mfi M M ATTORNEY 6'3,121,272 BUCKLE Thomas A. ll iatthews and Moses A. Hicks, Richmond, Va,assignors to B. 'l. Qrump Company, Inc., llicln mend, Va, a corporationof Virginia Filed dept. 12, 1962, gar. No. 223,049 1 Claim. (Q1. 24-19d)The present invention relates to a buckle and more particularly to abuckle for use with an adjustable web belt.

in the training of horses for harness racing, a training device isemployed to teach the horse proper footwork. The training devicecomprises two leather or plastic loops interconnected by a web belt anda buckle to enable the spacing of the loops to be fitted to individualhorses. The training procedure consists of fitting one of the loopsaround a front leg of the horse and the other loop around thecorresponding rear leg of the horse. Since the loops are connectedtogether, the training device will make the horse work his front leg andcorresponding rear leg in unison.

in training devices of this nature, some difficulty has een experiencedbecause the web belt is bent out of line as it passes through thebuckle, hence, the forces transmitted through the *buckle, betweenattached portions of the web belt, have followed a tortuous path. As aconsequence of this diffioulty, it is believed that training programsusing this device have not progressed as quickly or as satisfactorily asthey should. The present invention was conceived to obviate thisdifliculty.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a buckle for usewith an adjustable web belt so that the belt may be readily releasedfrom the buckle in order to adjust the length of the web belt.

it is another object of the present invention to provide a buckle inwhich one end of the web belt is permanently fastened to the buckleWhile the other end of the web belt is detachably connected to thebuckle so that it may be readily released therefrom or so that it may beloosened suiliciently while still remaining attached to the buckle forchanging the length of the web belt by adjusting it.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a buckle havingslidable means theron which rigidly secure one end of a detachable webof the belt to the buckle at one time while permitting the detachableweb portion of the belt to be sufiiciently loosened in order to have thelength of the belt adjusted to another size or length, and thereafteragain rigidly secured to the buckle.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a buckle forattachment to an adjustable web belt in which force transmitted throughthe buckle and the belt passes through in a common plane.

it is another object of the present invention to provide a buckle foruse with an adjustable belt having a sliding Wedge member that co-actswith another member of the buckle so that the adjustable web beltportion is wedged between these two members and the wedging force istransmitted in the same plane in which the attached belt portions lie.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a buckle havinga sliding member for binding the detachable end of a Web belt and inwhich the opposite ends of the web belt and buckle are disposed inalignment with one another at all times, including the time when thedetachable end of the belt is rigidly bound or fastened to the buckle.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a buckle foruse with an adjustable web belt provided with a slidable member forrigidly securing the adjustable portion of the web belt to the buckle inwhich the atet sliding member is provided with a planar surface that iscoplanar with a stationary member of the buckle between which coplanarsurfaces the adjustable portion of the web belt is wedged and in whichthe wedging force lies in the same plane as the main belt axis.

Various other objects and advantages of the present invention will bereadily apparent from the following detailed description when consideredin connection with the accompanying drawing forming a part thereof andin which:

FIGURE 1 is a plan view of the buckle embodied in the present invention;and

FIG. 2 is a section taken along the lines 2-2 of FIG- URE 1.

Referring to the drawing, the reference numeral ill generally designatesa buckle provided with two parallel slide rods 11 spaced from each otherby spacing end rods 12, at right angles thereto. The slide rods 11 havetheir opposite ends disposed in the end rods 12 in holes 13 provided inopposite ends of the rods 12 and are fixed thereto by pins 14.

The spacing end rods 1 in cross section, as best seen in FIGURE 2, haveparallel flat side faces 15 and a flat or planar innerface 16 with anarcuate or curved outerface 17.

Slidably mounted on parallel slide rods ll, between spacing end rods 12,are rods 18 and 19. The rods it and 19 are provided with holes 26 and21, respectively, near their ends, through which pass the parallel sliderods 11.

The spacing end rods 12 are also provided with longitudinal, axial,rectangular slots or holes 24 through which the opposing ends of a webbelt 27 are passed. The sta tionary end of the belt is on the left handside as seen in the drawing and is formed by passing the end 23 of thebelt through the slot as of the left end rod 12, thence around thecircumference of slidable rod 13 and then back through the same slot 24so that it is doubled back upon itself to overlap the portion 22 and issewn as indicated by 2-5 to fix permanently the stationary portion ofthe Web belt to the buckle.

The other member 12 is provided with an identical slot 24 extendingcompletely therethrough. The slots 2d are substantially rectangular incross section and are sli htly wider than the width of the web belt. Theslots 24 are also disposed in alignment with a plane passing through theaxes of slide rods 11 and rods 13 and 19 so that all of these membersare coplanar. The slots 24, of course, are disposed between the holes 13of the spacing rods 12.

Spring biasing members 3d are mounted on each rod I-ll between theslidable rods 13' and l9 to urge normally the rods 18 and 19 in adirection toward the adjacent spacing rod 12.

The slidable rod 1-9 is further provided with knurling as indicated at31 adjacent the major portion of its periphery. The outerface 32 of therod dd which is disposed opposite the innerface 16 of the adjacent rod12. is flat and parallel with face 16 of the spacing rod 12 to provide aco-acting wedging action with the respective face 16 of rod 12, ashereinafter described.

The free end portion 34 of the web belt has its outer extremity or end35 threaded through the slot 24 in the respective adjacent rod 12 and t1ereafter x i-rapped around the knurled circumference of the slidable rod19 after which the end 35' is then threaded back through the slot 24 tooverlap the portion 34 of the adjustable web portion of the belt, asbest seen in FIGURE 2.

The slidable rod 19, by virtue of the spring 36" normally urging it in adirection toward its respective adjacent spacing end rod 12, causes theface 32 to wedge against the adjacent portions of the adjustable webportion of the belt and to wedge these portions against the innerface 16of the respective adjacent rod 12. Hence, the belt is bound therebetweenand the web belt is rigidly secured to the buckle.

The slidable rod 19 may be pushed back on the members l1 and away fromits respective adjacent member 12 by applying a force thereto greaterthan the force in spring 36 in order to permit the adjustable portion 34of the belt to be lengthened or shortened to the desired length. It islengthened by decreasing the amount of overlap between 34 and 35, andshortened by increasing the overlap.

Since the slots 24 are in alignment with the entire assembly or frame ofthe buckle, and the sliding rod 19 and both the wedging face 32 and therespective co-acting face 16 of adjacent rod 12 are planar and parallelto each other and within the confines of the buckle frame, the forcestransmitted between web portions 2-2 and 34 of the belt and through thebuckle are transmitted in a common plane. Also, the operation of thefaces 16 and 32, to bind the belt therebetween to connect fixedly theadjustable portion of the Web belt, does not impart any knife edge orbiting action to the belt so that it will not break or develop a weakpoint here.

Although the invention has been shown in terms of a preferredembodiment, nevertheless, changes and modifications will occur to thoseskilled in the art, which changes do not depart in principal from theinventive concepts herein taught. Such changes and modifications aredeemed to come within the purview of the spirit and scope of'theinvention.

What is claimed is:

A belt buckle comprising two horizontal rod members, two verticalslotted end members having their opposite ends fixedly connected to theopposite ends of said rod members, a vertical cylindrical member fixedlycarried on said rod members, said cylindrical member being spacedadjacent one of said end members for wrapping a portion of a web. beltthreaded through said adjacent end member therearo-und, a verticalslidable' member having spaced apertures therein slidably disposed onsaid rod members adjacent another of said end members, a spring memberdisposed on each of said rod members between said cylindrical andslidable member for urging said slidable member toward its respectiveadjacent end member, the longitudinal axis of said rod members and endmembers cylindrical and slidable members and the slots in said endmembers being coplanar, said slidable member having an arouate knurledperiphery with a planar face on one side thereof, said respectiveadjacent end member having a planar face opposite the planar face ofsaid slidable member, said faces being parallel, where-- by anadjustable belt portion passing between said faces is detachabiy wedgedbetween said faces.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS610,105 Thayer Aug. 30, 1898 1,519,708 Tapp et al. Dec. 16, 19242,166,457 Berndt July 18, 1939 2,238,789 Castro Apr. 15, 1941

